Ore: The Mining Game Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Set-Up
• Game Flow
• Phase 1 – Tasking
  • Board Spaces in Detail
• Phase 2 – Collection
• Phase 3 – Business
• End Game

Set-Up

1. Place out the board. Sort out the Lead, Coal, Copper, Iron and Gold and place them under their respective mines.
2. Each player chooses a color and takes the 5 workers, Hard Hat token and Mine Cage token in that color.
   • If you are playing with 4-5 players, return 1 worker of your color back to the box.
   • All players place 1 of their workers on the Recruit space of the game board.
3. Shuffle all the Building cards, and deal each player 2 cards face-down into their hand. Place the deck beside the board.
4. Place all the Drill Bit tokens next to the "Drill Bit" space.
5. Each player places their Hard Hat token on the Private Mine space, and their Mine Cage token on the Mine Cage space.
6. Place 1 Grey temp worker for each player on the Private Mine space. (Misprint: Referred to as white in the rulebook)
7. Sort the Mine cards by type into 5 stacks, and shuffle each into a face-down deck. Place each deck above the board next to its corresponding mine. Flip the top card face-up onto the matching space of the board.
8. Shuffle the Contract cards and place the deck under the leftmost space at the bottom of the board. Flip over cards based on player count. With 2/3/4/5 players, flip over 3/4/4/5 Contract cards.
9. Based on the number of players, place the appropriate "Overtime" tile (look on back) on the board in the outlined space.
10. Place the Round counter token (standee) on space 1 of the track to the right side of the board.
11. Each player takes 1 resource of the 5 types now – Lead, Coal, Copper, Iron, and Gold.
12. Place the money cards out and randomly choose a 1st player. Give this player the Coal Cart token (1st player token.) Each player receives money now... 1st/2nd/3rd/4th/5th player takes $5/$6/$7/$8/$9.
13. 2-player only changes – Remove Copper from the game. Remove all Contracts/Buildings not marked with the "2" icon.

Game Flow

• Ore is played over 7 rounds. Each round is divided up into 3 distinct phases – Tasking Phase, Collection Phase and Business Phase. All players will take part in each phase together before moving onto the next phase.
• After the 7th round is over, the game ends and points are calculated. (See End Game below for details.)

Phase 1 – Tasking

• Starting with the 1st player, and going clockwise, each player on their turn will place 1 worker from in front of them onto an EMPTY action space on the board, and then carry out the action. (Each space is discussed in detail below.)
  • Exception: During the last (7th) round of the game, all action spaces outlined in Red (referred to as "In Town") are available, even if another worker is present there, even your own!
• At the beginning of future rounds, some players might have more or less workers than others. If it becomes your turn and you have no workers left, simply pass.
• After all players have placed (and activated) all their workers this round, proceed to the Collection Phase.

Board Spaces in Detail

Mine Cage

• The Mine Cage token is needed to keep a worker on a Mine card longer than normal (and get better rewards too!) This concept will be discussed under "Collection Phase" below, but that is the main reason to buy it.
• Pay $10 to take your Mine Cage token from the action space. Place the token in front of you with the level "II" side face-up. This token will be worth 1 VP at the end of the game.
• If you already have your Mine Cage token in front of you, you can pay $10 again to upgrade it to level "III" by flipping it over. This token will be worth 3 VP at the end of the game. (You can only go to this space twice max.)
• You can't buy your Mine Cage token and Upgrade it on the same turn. This must be done on separate turns!

Drill Bit

• Drill Bits are used when placing workers on a Mine card in order to start at a lower level. The use of these will be discussed in more detail below, but that is the main reason you want to obtain one.
• Take 1 Drill Bit token from the space and put it in front of you, and also take $3.
• Some boards neglect to show the + $3 symbol, but in the rulebook it states this, so take $3 with your drill bit!

Digging in the Mines

• There are 5 Mines in the game (Lead, Coal, Copper, Iron, Gold.) Each face-up Mine card represents the current mine players can send workers to dig in for the given resource.
• On the left side of the card are spaces where player's workers will occupy. The resources shown to the right of that space are the resources earned by that player's workers during the Collection phase.
• The Market Value number will be discussed in other sections below. For now, it is unimportant for digging.
• When a player places a worker on a Mine card (pick any of the 5), it must go in the topmost box of the card (shows a little worker to remind you!) This space must be empty! If there is a worker there, you have to pick another Mine card. (Each space on a Mine card can only hold 1 worker at a time, but a Mine card itself can hold several workers at the same time. You'll see how they move during the Collection Phase below.)
• When placing your worker on a Mine Card, if you have a Drill Bit token, you can discard 1 back to the board in order to place your worker on the 2nd or 3rd topmost box, assuming the space is empty (these spaces show a little drill bit symbol to remind you!) You can use a Drill Bit token even if the topmost box is empty, but you must still abide by the Mine Cage rule (see Collection Phase below for details on the Mine Cages.)

Private Mine

• Choose a resource type you want to have your Private worker utilize. Pay $5 + the Market Value tag located on the current face-up Mine card of that matching type located on the board (look in upper right corner of card.)
• After paying, take the top card of the matching deck, and place it face-up in front of you. Take 1 Grey worker and place it immediately on the topmost box of this new Mine Card. Take your Hard Hat token from this action space and place it on the Mine card as well. You can only have 1 Private Mine card at a time.
• When you get to the Collection phase, this worker and Mine Card will act like all the other, but your private worker is the only worker that can be in this mine! None of your other workers can go in this mine. You can't use Drill Bits on this worker. Mine Cage rules still apply to this worker (see below.)

Contracts

• For now, I'll tell you what these spaces do, but for details on Contract card usage, go to the "Business Phase."
• When you place a worker next to a face-up Contract card, simply place that Contract in front of you.
• Always replace the taken Contract with a new one from the top of the deck. (This is contradicted in the rulebook under the "Business phase" section. This is the correct way to do it.)
• If a worker is placed on the space next to the Contract deck (far left space,) take the top 3 cards, look at them, keep 1, and return the other 2 cards to the bottom of the deck.

Commodity Market

• The person who places a worker here will choose a resource and either sell up to 2 of this type or buy up to 2 of this type. The value of this resource is shown on the current matching Mine card labeled "Market Value $."
• All other players can either buy 1 or sell 1 of the same resource type that the active player just chose.
• Purchases/Sales are always done through the supply, not other players.

Permit Office / Building Cards

• You were dealt 2 Building cards at the beginning of the game. These cards can only be put into play when a Contract card is completely fulfilled (See Business Phase below.) When you are allowed to put a Building into play, you must pay the cost (usually in cash or resources, your choice.) After putting a Building card into play, activate its 1x ability, and then flip it over into your score pile. It is worth the shown VP at the end of the game.
• Having now explained Building cards, when you go to the Permit Office, announce how many cards you are going to buy. Pay $0 for 1 card, $4 for 2, and $10 for 3. Draw that many Building cards into your hand.
• Take note, the board has a misprint; it should say "Buy up to 3 cards."
• All other players do the same, but they can only buy 1 card for $3 or 2 cards for $7.

Recruit

• Come to this space to buy a new worker. When you do, place it next to the worker used to acquire him as he can't be used until next round. You can only buy 1 new worker during the entire game.
• The cost decreases as other players buy their workers – the 1st worker bought is $20, the 2nd is $18 and so on…
• Note the prices on the board's space. Players can only go to this space once in the entire game!

Advanced Orders

• Before reading what this space does, I highly recommend skipping this for now and go read about the Collection and Business Phase first. Once you do that, come back and read what this space does.
• The player who goes here takes the 1st player marker (it will not pass now at the end of the round.)
• The player who goes here also draws 1 Building card from the top of the deck into their hand.
• Now, ALL players may, if they wish, satisfy the topmost empty line of any Contract cards they have, earning any rewards and bonus as described during the "Business Phase." Any cards not fulfilled at this time have no penalties, but keep in mind, that all cards must still be satisfied during the "Business Phase" or they will be lost.

Overtime

• If you go to this space, you can utilize any occupied space outlined in red, applying all rules of that space as if you had put your working there.
• If "Advanced Orders" is activated multiple times in a single round, the 1st player marker CAN move several times!
• With 3-4 players, use the tile 1-space overlay, and with 5 players, use the 2-space overlay.

Phase 2 – Collection

1. Gather Resources from Mines
   • When all workers have been placed and activated during the Tasking Phase, it is now time to earn resources from workers on Mine cards.
   • Each player takes the resources shown next to each of their workers on the 5 cards at the top of the board and on their Private Mine card, if they have one.
2. Advance Workers
   • Each worker on a Mine card now moves 1 space downward, however there are some rules they must follow…
   • In order for a worker to move into a space labeled level "II," they need a level "II" or "III" Mine Cage or else they can't move that worker lower. If the worker can't move, the Mine card is "exhausted."
   • Same goes for the level "III" space, but only a level "III" Mine Cage can allow passage to this space.
3. Replace Exhausted Mine Cards
   • Mine cards become "exhausted" when a worker on the card can't move to a lower level due to not having the appropriate Mine Cage token or if a worker is at the bottom (last space) of the Mine card.
   • Return ALL workers on this Mine card back to their owners without penalty (they can be used again next round,) discard this Mine card to the bottom of the matching deck, and flip over the next card face-up onto the board.
   • If a Private Mine is exhausted (discard it,) put the grey worker and your Hard Hat token back on the board. You can now start a new Private Mine next round if you wish by paying for a new one.

Phase 3 – Business

1. Sell Next Row on all Contract Cards
   • Each player must assign resources from their personal supply onto Contract cards in order to satisfy the topmost empty line of each Contract card they currently have.
   • For each line they completely fill, take the amount of money shown to the right now.
   • Players can only fill 1 line per card and it must be the topmost empty line. Leave the resources on the card!
   • For each Contract card that can't be satisfied at this time (you can choose not to satisfy a card if you wish,) discard the card instead of placing any resources on it. Place resources that were previously on the card back in the general supply on the board. There is no other penalty other than simply losing the Contract card.
   • After placing all resources on Contract cards and any earning all money, if you happen to fill the final line of a Contract card, it is considered "Complete." Discard all resources on it back to the board. You can now "build" Building cards from your hand (must pay their costs) as depicted at the bottom of the completed Contract card.
   • After playing Building cards and doing their "when played" abilities, if you can or want to, place the completed Contract card in your score pile. It is worth the printed VP at the end of the game.
   • Any new Contract cards earned as a result of Building cards rewards can't have resources added to them now.
2. Pass 1st player
   • Pass the 1st player token to the left.
   • If it was taken this round using the "Advanced Orders" space, don't pass it.
3. Recall Workers
   • Bring back all your workers from the board to your play area.
   • If you recruited a new worker this round, remember to take it too.

End Game

• After the 7th round is over, add up points the following way:
  • VP from finished Contracts (should be in your score pile.)
  • VP from completed "built" buildings (should be in your score pile.)
  • 1 VP for every $10 you have.
  • 1 VP if you upgraded your Mine cage to only level "II" or 3 VP if you upgraded your Mine Cage to level "III" (the token may show a 2 on the level "III" side, this is a misprint, it should be 3 VP as stated in the rulebook.)
• Most VP wins the game! Ties broken by move leftover resources, then by most money.